<nettime-ann> "Liberating Voices: A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution" is Now Available!

[Doug Schuler <douglas@publicsphereproject.org>]

.
Liberating Voices: A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution Is  
Now Available!
By Doug Schuler

I'm writing to you as a friend or colleague or, in some cases, as a  
person whom I've never met but whose work I admire. In any case I'm  
hopeful that you'll find this work compelling. If you do, please read  
this announcement and send it along to friends and colleagues who  
might also be interested. (Please also take a look at the attachments,  
the endorsements on the back cover of the book, are worth a look.)

After eight years of work, the book on our information and  
communication pattern language project, Liberating Voices: A Pattern  
Language for Communication Revolution, is finally available.  
Liberating Voices brings together a multitude of ideas and suggestions  
from a variety of perspectives including activism and social change,  
education, community informatics, governance, media, development,  
information science, economics, journalism, arts and culture. It can  
be used by researchers, by practitioners in a variety of fields  
including teachers in the classroom, by activists, and by citizens and  
community members throughout the world.

This book is particularly relevant at this time in history. It is a  
call for social change based on a peaceful revolution in grassroots  
information and communication. Our manifesto takes the form of a  
pattern language containing 136 patterns. Each pattern is a template  
for research as well as social critique and action. And each pattern  
is linked to other patterns to form a single coherent whole. We  
(myself and 85 co-authors) have tried to show that the struggle for  
liberatory information and communication systems is absolutely  
critical to a just and sustainable future.

Inspired by the vision and framework outlined in Christopher  
Alexander's classic 1977 book, A Pattern Language, the book presents a  
pattern language containing 136 patterns designed to meet these  
challenges. We are proposing a new model of social change that  
integrates theory and practice by showing how diverse information and  
communication based approaches can be used to address local as well as  
global problems.

The pattern language was developed collaboratively with nearly 100 co- 
authors using an online pattern language management system. The  
patterns from the book are all online as are approximately 300 other  
patterns in work. We are treating the publishing of the book as an  
important milestone rather than the culmination of the project. While  
we are very enthusiastic about what we've produced so far we realize  
that people and organizations who use the patterns will often need to  
adapt the pattern language to their specific needs which may even  
include developing new patterns. For this reason and others we are  
revamping our web site to encourage collaborative pattern language  
construction and allow people to readily share ideas and experiences  
with others.

We worked to create an intriguing and informative catalog of  
intellectual, social, and technological innovations, a practical  
manual for citizen activism, and a compelling manifesto for creating a  
more intelligent, sustainable, and equitable world. Now is the time to  
unleash our collective creativity—social as well as technological—and  
develop the communication systems that promote community and civic  
innovation and engagement to address serious challenges like climate  
change and environmental degradation.

If this sounds interesting I encourage to take a look at the book.  
Also, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me for any reason.  
And thanks in advance for sending this note to friends and colleagues!

Doug Schuler


Liberating Voices: A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution can  
be ordered online at:
     http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11601
The Public Sphere Project
     http://www.publicsphereproject.org/
The Liberating Voices pattern language project
     http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/
Online portal to the patterns in the book
    http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/pattern-table-of-contents.php


_______________________________________________
nettime-ann mailing list
nettime-ann@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ann